I saw on the TV news that Mickey Rooney has passed away. He was 93 years old and was active up until the day he passed away. People my age can equate with him and his long career in the entertainment industry. He was very short for being so successful in the movies as he was only 5’3”. As far as I know he was married eight times, usually to a star of movie fame.

Clayton Lockett raped and murdered an 11-month-old girl. That crime earned him the death penalty in Oklahoma. Lockett was strapped to a gurney in the prison’s death chamber on Tuesday. At 6:28 p.m. he was injected with 50 milligrams of midazolam, which was supposed to render him unconscious before the final two drugs would be administered to kill the convict. We quote from the eye-witness account of Tulsa World Editor Ziva Branstetter:

In Iowa we beg people to put buffer strips along our rivers and lakes to keep them relatively clear of sediment. It doesn’t work. Farming the road ditches has become a popular practice, as any motorist with his eyes open can see. It shows up in our lakes — the mud is strangling lakes all over Northwest Iowa such that they might not see another century — and eventually in a huge nitrified dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

A quick scan around the Storm Lake Elementary School Commons on Saturday revealed that most of the delegates seated for the Fourth District Democratic Convention could have voted for John F. Kennedy for President.

The young people in the room were employees of a campaign or the state party.

As I watch TV the news does not sound good at all. North Korea shot off two missiles putting a little more scare in an already scary time. Russian soldiers have taken over Crimea a part of the Ukraine. The Ukraine used to be part of the Russian Federation but got their independence about 20 years ago.

We would like to welcome Democrats from around the sprawling Fourth Congressional District for their convention in Storm Lake on Saturday. Congressional candidate Jim Mowrer of Boone will deliver the main address as he trudges on in his campaign to unseat Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron. Mowrer will need every ounce of support he can get against King, who has trounced every comer. We wish him all the best. It would be nice if we were not embarrassed every time our congressman opens his mouth. Mowrer is a class act who would do us proud.

Democrats controlling the Iowa Senate will not have enough time to pin a tail on Gov. Terry Branstad over secret state cash payouts to former state employees. Just a few days of the legislative session remained as this was written and Sen. Janet Peterson of Des Moines, chairwoman of the Senate Oversight Committee, can’t call enough hearings to get someone to turn on the Republican governor.